How airports are sneakily making millions of pounds…by charging you to use a luggage trolley

Top UK airports say the money they take from cash-strapped passengers is used to maintain the service

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By MARC SHOFFMAN

21st October 2016, 10:14 am

Updated: 22nd October 2016, 5:59 am

AIRPORTS are pocketing millions of pounds by charging holidaymakers to use luggage trolleys, the Sun Online can exclusively reveal.

Despite cash-strapped passengers already being slapped with sneaky fees for baggage or allocated seating to - now top UK airports are cashing in on people struggling to carry their bags.

Airports such as Birmingham and Manchester charge £1 to use a trolley while passengers at

Bristol and Luton face paying £2 for one.

Passengers can pay by cash and some will let you pay by card, but be aware of processing fees as Birmingham charges an extra 40p.

As the charges are non-refundable, families jetting off for half-term would need an extra £4 for the round-trip.

That is a pretty steep charge for the short amount of time you would need a trolley to check-in your bags or to pick them up at the end of your holiday.

As air fares reduce we can't continue to provide services like trolleys for free.

Manchester Airportspokesman

The fee may not seem like a lot but as an example, Manchester Airport says around 5 per cent of its passengers use trolleys.

Around 22million people use Manchester Airport a year so that works out as 1.1million passengers potentially buying a trolley at £1 each bringing in an estimated £1.1million.

Airports deny they are making money out of this and insist the charge helps maintain the service.

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “To continue to make multi-million pound investments in the airport when the cost of air fares are reducing, meant we couldn't continue to provide services like trolleys for free.

“Around 5 per cent of passengers use trolleys at the moment, this method ensures that only the user pays rather than spreading the cost across everyone.”

Other airports such as Gatwick, Stansted and Cardiff charge a £1 fee that is refundable as long as you return the trolley.

Alamy

None could provide distances of how far you would need to go to return a trolley but all say there are trolley points spread across the terminals and car parks so there wouldn’t be far to go.

Some of the larger airports such as Heathrow, London City and Edinburgh charge nothing to use a trolley.

A spokesman for Bagport, which provides trolley services for some of the major airports including Heathrow, Luton and Bristol, says the charges help cover the costs of maintenance and staffing for the trolleys, adding: “Airports that offer free trolley services have the fees loaded into the fares.”

Alamy

The extra charges you get slapped with from airlines...

1. EASYJET

£45: To check in your luggage

£45: To change the name of a passenger on the ticket

Up to £20: For allocated seating with extra legroom

2. RYANAIR
£160: To change the name of a passenger on the ticket

£50: To check in your luggage

£22.50: For priority with extra legroom3. JET2.COM
£45: To check in last-minute bags which were not pre-booked

£35: To change the name of a passenger on the ticket

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